Google paid homage today to Frank Zamboni, the inventor of the modern ice resurfacer.Google

On Google's homepage today, you can crank up a Zamboni in honor of its late inventor.

The Google Doodle is celebrating the 112th birthday of Frank Zamboni, best known for creating a namesake ice resurfacer that smooths rinks. The drawing doubles as an interactive video game that involves cleaning the rink's surface. All that's missing is the Gear Daddies song, "Zamboni," playing between periods.

The doodle is also timely given the start of the NHL season this Saturday, after a 113-day lockout.

Zamboni, an Italian-American native of Utah who died in 1988, first applied the machine to his southern California Iceland complex in 1949. He was posthumously inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in 2009.